Safety fare-box for street-cars.



P. W. YEO & A. J. BOHL. SAFETY FARE BOX FOR STREET CARS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1911 41,063,758. Patented Ju ne 3, 1913.

W W M I? 6.37M

FREDRIC W. YEO AND ALFRED J. BOI-IL, OF MILWAUKEE-WISCONSIN.

SAFETY FARE-BOX FOR STREET-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 3, 1913.

Application filed September 13, 1911. Serial No. 649,207.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, Fnnnnro 1 120 and ALFRED J BOI-IL, citizens of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, and State of Visconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Safety Fare-Boxes for Street-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in fare boxes.

The object of our invention is to provide a form of box adapted to serve either as a} stationary or as a portable box and which will readily receive cash fares consisting of coins of any size, fare checks and ordinary ticket fares, but will prevent fraudulent withdrawals.

In the drawings-Figure 1 is a side elevation of our improved fare box. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same, drawn on line ww of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the till or lower portion of the box. Fig. 5 is a detail view of a set of gravity fingers.

Like parts are identified by the same ref-" erence characters throughout the several views.

Our improved box comprlses a receptacle,

preferably rectangular in form, the vertical dimension being greatest. It is divided horizontally into two compartments by a horizontal partition 1 having a large opening therethrough, normally closed by a swinging trap. lid 2 hinged to the partition wall by a pintle 3, which projects through one side wall 4 of the box and is provided with a handle 5, whereby the lid 2 may be swung. The upper compartment 6 receives the fares initially through a slot 7 in the top 8 and the lower compartment 9 serves as a till. The front wall 10 is preferably provided with a sight glass 11 through which the fares may be observed when rest-ing upon the lid before delivery into the till, and a similar sight glass may be provided in the rear wall. The upper compartment is provided with a series of slides or inclined walls partially obstructing the passage of the fares through the compartment from the slot 7 to the lid 2.

A receiving chamber 13 is formed by verging.

tical walls 14 and 15, and inclined walls 16 and 17, which cross the upper compartment 6 from front to rear with suflicient space between the lower margins of the converging walls 16 and 17 to permit the fares to freely pass through without danger of clogithin the receiving chamber and directly below the slot, a battle composed of ailgularly divergent walls20 and 21 is provided. These walls meet at their upper margins and diverge downwardly, preferably in the direction of the angles formed by the chamber walls 14 and 15 with the inclined walls 16 and 17. The fares will therefore pass through the slot 7 and be deflected outwardly toward one sideor the other by this two way battle, and on passing the batlie, will be again deflected inwardly to the opening 25 between the walls 16 and 17, which is located directly underneath the battle. A second battle of similar form is located below the opening 25, and comprises the downwardly and laterally diverging walls 26 and 27 The lower margins of these walls approach the side walls 4 and 28 respectively, and deliver the fares to slides 30, which project inwardly and downwardly from such walls. Rods 31 and 32 cross the compartment from front to rear underneath the walls 26 and 27 and gravity actuated retaining fingers 35, pivotally supported by the rods 31., areadapted to swing laterally into contact with the lower margins of the slides 30, thus substantially spanning the gaps 36 between the slides 30 and the batlle walls 26 and 27. The rods 32 are below rods 31 and serve as stops to limit the movement of the fingers in the opposite direction to prevent them from swinging across a vertical plane through their supporting rod 31, the term vertical being used on the as sumption that the box is in an upright position.

It will be observed that the walls 16 and 17 of the receiving chamber 13 and also the slides 30 constitute inwardly directing baffies. A faredropped through the slot 7 will be deflected'by one of the baffles 20 or 21 outwardly and immediately thereafter will be turned inwardly by the batlle wall 16 or 17 On passing through the opening 25, the

fare will again be deflected outwardly by the bafiie wall 26 or 27, and then inwardly by one of the battles or slides 30, andwill drop therefrom to the partition between compartments 6 and 9. This of course as sumes that the fare box is in its normal vertical position, or substantially in such position. The fingers 35 in normal position will rest against the stop rods 32 and will direct the fares delivered from the slides clownwardly with a slight outward inclination. The fares, whether in the form of cash, checks, or tickets will have been turned by the bafiles and the fingers 35 to such a position thattheir lower marginal edges will strike on the partition or near the side margin of the lid 2, whereupon the fare will fall lever 5 may be actuated to tilt the lid and discharge the fares into the till 9. The front wall of the till is provided with a door 37, as shown in Fig. 3, which door is kept normally locked, a lock being illustrated at 38.

Owing to the fact that two sets of outwardly and inwardly projecting battles or walls are employed within the compartments 6, it is obvious that it is imposslble for any tool to be manipulated through the slot 7 into a position where it can interfere with the operation of the fingers 35. The lower baffle walls 26 and 27 eifectually protect the fingers 35 from interference, and are adapted particularly to prevent access to'the pivot rods 31. Each of the fingers being free to swing independently of the other, it is obvious that any obstruction which may be dropped through the slot 7 will obstruct the escape of the fares to the same extent that it interferes with the movement of the fingers. It is also obvious that any attempt to tilt the fare box to one side or the other, or to invert it for the purpose of shaking fares out, will be futile, since the fingers 35 will in such case fall by gravity to the dotted line position indicated in Fig. 2' and prevent the fares from passing through the gap bet-ween the bafiie walls 26 and 27 and the battles or slides 30.

- Our improved fare box is preferably formed in sections, the upper section being open at the bottom and forming the compartment 6. Lugs 38 are provided in each corner for securing the upper section or compartment to the lower section, said lugs overlapping the corner portions of the partition 1 and being secured by screws or bolts 39, which may be inserted from beneath when the door 37 is open. This makes it possible to secure access to the upper section by removing the fastenings which connect the lugs with the partition 1. The glass windows or sight glass members'll are preferably inserted from below in retaining grooves 40 formed in the walls of the upper compartment or section. These glass windows may be so inserted when the upper section is separated from the lower one. If desired, springs 11 may be employed to hold the lid 2 in its normal horizontal position. This lid, when in horizontal position, strikes against the fixed portion of the partition 1, which prevents it from moving into compartment 6.

Te claim 1. A fare box consisting of the combination with a till, having an upper wall partially composed of a swinging lid, a receiv- 1g compartment mounted upon the till and provided with a slot in its upper wall, two sets of outwardly and inwardly deflecting bafiies located in the receiving compartment, and swinging fingers pivotally supported underneath the lower outwardly deflecting baffles in a position to swing by gravity into engagement with the lower inwardly deflecting bafiies, substantially as described.

2. A fare box consisting of the combination with a till, having an upper wall partially composed of a swinging lid, a receiving compartment mounted upon the till and provided with a slot in its upper wall, two sets of outwardly and inwardly deflecting baflies located in the receiving compartment, and swinging fingers pivotally supported underneath the lower outwardly deflecting bafiies in a position to swing by gravity into engagement with the lower inwardly deflecting ballles, substantially as described,

together with stop rods limiting the inwardly swinging movement of the fingers.

3. The combination with a till, of a flare receiving compartment mounted thereon and provided with a slot in its upper wall, a fa re receiving chamber having its walls suspended from the upper wall of said compartment and having a partially closed bottom composed of downwardly and angularly inclined baflle walls, a two way baffle in said receiving chamber located underneath said slot and provided with downwardly and outwardly inclined walls, a second two way battle in the lower portion of said compartment underneath the opening in the bottom of the receiving chamber, and a set of retaining fingers pivotally supported underneath said last mentioned bame and adapted to prevent the return of fares from the lower portion of the compartment to a position above such bafiie, and manually operated means for discharging fares from the lower portion of said compartment into the till.

4.. The combination with a fare receiving till having its top composed in part of a swinging lid, of a fare receiving compartment provided with an open bottom and de tachably mounted upon said till, said receiving compartment having a slot in its upper Wall, means for securing the upper compartment to the till from Within the till, a sight glass mounted in slide hearings in the upper compartment and movable into engagementwith said bearings from the open lower end thereof, said sight glass being retained in position by the till when the receiving compartment is secured thereto.

FREDRIO W. YEO. ALFRED J. BOHL.

Witnesses:

C. A. DEAN, HENRY ELKERT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0. 

